London: UK healthcare watchdog has warned doctors from prescribing paracetamol to arthritis sufferers, claiming that it can raise heart failure and strokes risk among them.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said that they are `seriously concerned` and are proposing new guidelines to curb the paracetamol`s use, the Daily Express reported.

Earlier, doctors routinely used to prescribe paracetamol as a cheap and effective way to treat the painful condition.

A Nice spokesman said that the drug was seen as an effective, safe and low-cost treatment for osteoarthritis, so health professionals offered it to patients routinely but evidence now suggests that it is less effective, and less safe, than believed earlier.